Rachel Talbot Ross

Rachel Talbot Ross
104th Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives
Assumed office
December 7, 2022
Preceded byRyan Fecteau
Succeeded byRyan Fecteau
Member of the Maine House of Representatives
Assumed office
December 7, 2022
Preceded byChad Wayne Grignon
Constituency118th district
In office
December 7, 2016 – December 7, 2022
Preceded byBen Chipman
Succeeded byStanley Zeigler
Constituency40th district
Personal details
Born1961 (age 62–63)
Political partyDemocratic
ParentGerald Talbot
EducationAmerican University
Wesleyan University

Rachel Talbot Ross is an American politician and activist. A Democrat from Portland, Talbot has been the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives since December 2022. When she was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2016, Talbot Ross became the first Black woman to serve in the Maine Legislature. Talbot Ross represents District 40, consisting of the Parkside, Bayside, East Bayside, and Oakdale neighborhoods of Portland as well as the University of Southern Maine campus. She became Maine's first African-American House Speaker, and the highest-ranking African-American politician in Maine history, when she was elected speaker on December 7, 2022.[1]

  1. ^ Writer, Penelope OvertonStaff (2022-12-07). "Rachel Talbot Ross becomes first Black speaker of Maine House". Press Herald. Retrieved 2022-12-08.